


An Eight-Year-Old With Katanas, Amnesia, And A Trauma Problem

by SkyTheAlmighty



Series: UnderStuck Works [1]
Category: Homestuck, Undertale (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:20:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24477841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyTheAlmighty/pseuds/SkyTheAlmighty
Summary: A young child, younger than most, falls into the underground. He is strange, much like the humans before him, but in a different way - he's stronger than most, yet all he remembers is his name and a few short things.John is worried. His best friend has gone missing, and things have fallen into chaos. He wonders if Dave ditched them, but then deems it impossible, and continues to search for him. When he is told Dave is stuck in another universe, things seem to have more hope. And yet, he's still worried.How will either of them survive?
Series: UnderStuck Works [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1836754
Comments: 23
Kudos: 56





	1. OST 004: Fallen Down

**Author's Note:**

> Well, chaos ensues. What's new?

==> ???: Wake up.

You shift in your sleep.

==> ???: Wake UP!

You sit up suddenly, breathing heavily. Your first instinct is to hold your hand to the katana you always have by your side. Your second instinct tells you your shades are gone and _dang is it bright or what_. You rub your eyes to get used to the light, then look around for the shades. You grab them by the corner, then recoil and try again. They’re sharp, like two triangles stuck together. You vaguely remember that these are a cosplay version of Kamina’s shades, and that you prefer Ben Stiller’s. You don’t remember who Kamina or Ben Stiller are, or how you remember that, when a sudden thought hits you like a train - the definition of a word. Amnesia.

“Gosh darn it,” you say to yourself, sighing. “Amnesia. Terrible video game and an even worse thing to have.” You pick yourself up and put your shades on, walking toward a doorway out of the clearing. You breathe in the smell of buttercups before moving on to another room with... another buttercup. Or is it a daisy? You’re not really that good with flowers, but you suspect to yourself that this isn’t a flower you can see on the Surface. It turns out that you’re right, because a couple steps forward, the flower sprouts a face. You try to resist the urge to cuss..

You fail.

“What the _fuck_.” is what you first say. The flower’s overly cheery smile (which sets off multiple alarms) immediately turns sour.

“Buddy, aren’t you too young to cuss?” it asks in a high-pitched voice that kind of makes you want to cover your ears. 

“How would I know,” you reply. “I’ve got amnesia.”

“Great,” it says with distaste and sarcasm. “Another anomaly timeline. I should’ve known, since Frisk isn’t here.” You raise an eyebrow at the statement, and the flower shakes its head (bud? Heck if you know) quickly. “Anyway. Howdy! I’m Flowey. Flowey the Flower!”

“Flowey the Flower? That’s like naming a human.. hummy. Hummy the Human. What a dumb name,” you say, fake solemnly. “But that’s besides the point. My name is...” You rack your brain for a name, and it comes to you. “Dave. Dave Strider.”

The flower ignores what you said (rude) and continues on its speech. “You’re new to the Underground, arentcha? Golly, you must be so confused!”

“Underground? Whoever’s in charge here needs to brush up on their naming skills,” you snort. 

“You’re telling me,” it sighs. “Someone ought to teach ya how things work around here,” it continues on its speech. “I guess li’l ‘ol me’ll have to do!”

Your mood immediately sours. “Don’t say ‘li’l’.”

It tilts its head. “Why not?”

“Just.. don’t.”

“Well, do you want me to teach you how things work around here or not?” Its patience was wearing thin, you could tell.

“Go right ahead.”

“Thank you,” it says, and then the world around you turns black. Not like you fainted or whatever, more like it literally turned black and white. You feel a tugging in your chest as something sprouts out of it. It’s a red heart with gears surrounding it, and it pulses faintly once every second, like it’s counting time. A box encloses the heart in a black void, and when you will it to move, the heart moves, just like you willed it to. “You see that heart?” it asks, and you nod. “That is your SOUL. The very culmination of your being,” it explains cheerily. 

“What’s up with the gears?” you wonder out loud, and it does its best imitation of a shrug.

“Hell if I know, kid,” it replies, then freezes for a second, then continues as if it was a lag of a game, but the next time it speaks, its voice hitches. It saw something, and you already want to know what. 

==> [S] Flowey: Mental breakdown.

No, _no_ we are not doing that ‘Scene’ shit! Wrong video game!

Despite that, you can’t help but have a mini mental breakdown. This kid’s LV is way too high for someone who has never killed a person. 35? That’s impossible, it breaks the laws of the game! Especially since he has _zero_ EXP. His expression changes at your pause, though, and you can’t help but continue if you want to keep up the act. 

“Your SOUL starts off weak, but can grow strong with lots of LV!”

“Level?” he guesses.

“No, LOVE!” you inform him with a cheery grin. He doesn’t seem to be taking the bait though. “And, down here, LOVE is shared through these!” You summon five bullets up in the air around you.

“What are those?” he asks blandly. 

“Friendliness pellets!” you chirp. “Move around, catch as many as you can!” You send the bullets at him.

==> Dave: Nope.

You will the heart-SOUL-whatever thing to dodge the pellets. You’re not gonna take some dumbly named flower’s shit. Heck no. He doesn’t seem to be too happy that you dodged them, though. Like you care.

“Hey, buddy, you missed them. Let’s try that again, shall we-” he starts, but you cut him off. 

“Yeah, no, cut the crap. Those aren’t friendly and we both know it.” You glare at the flower behind your sunglasses, and his grin turns malicious.

“You’re right about that,” he says, voice menacing but not as high pitched as it was before. Thank God. “You know what’s going on here, don’t you?”

“Nope, I have no clue,” you say truthfully, popping the ‘p’. “But I do happen to know when someone’s pulling bull, and you set off all my alarms for that.” Your hand grasps the familiar hilt of the katana as you ready for an attack. The flower laughs.

“No, not that part. How this world works. How else would you have such a high LOVE?” He pauses, as if to think about it. “Though, you still don’t have any EXP, but that’s besides the point. You know it’s kill or be killed, right?” He giggles, and you blink.

“Is that what he was training me for? Heck no, I ain’t gonna kill nobody,” you say to yourself. “Not on purpose anyway, maybe in self-defense. And you’re giving me a good reason to defend myself,” you remind Flowey, unsheathing your katana.

“No matter. I need your SOUL, so..” He makes a ring of bullets (that’s what you’re assuming they are) around the box. “DIE.” He laughs maniacally, and you ready yourself for the pain. You still have all your HP, apparently, but you don’t need to see what those bullets do to know they’re gonna hurt. You close your eyes and brace for impact, but.. it never comes. Within an inch of touching your SOUL, they disappear, and Flowey is left with a look of annoyance, before he is yeeted away using a fireball. That’s gotta hurt. A tall, anthro-whatever-the-word-is goat walks into view. She seems troubled, but kindly, and doesn’t look like she wants to hurt you, so you sheathe your katana for now. 

“What a terrible creature, torturing a poor, innocent youth..” her voice is soothing, like the kind of voice you’d imagine reading a book of lullabies out loud. “And such a young child too! Dear, what might your name be?” She kneels down to get to your eye level, and you shift a bit uncomfortably, putting your hands in your pockets. Her eyes are a dulled fuschia color, and that reminds you of something, but you can’t remember what. Darn not having a memory.

“Dave,” you say, and she holds out a hand.

“You may call me Toriel. Come with me, my child. I know of a place where you will be safe.” She looks you up and down. “Do you wish for me to carry you? I can see you are tired, young one.”

You hesitate, then nod. You hadn’t really noticed, but you were actually pretty dang tired, and you yawned after realizing so. You take her hand and she hefts you up carefully and cradles you comfortably in her arms, beginning to walk somewhere. You don’t notice where she goes, because your eyes are already closed, and you’re letting yourself drift off to the pace of her walking.

==> Toriel: Help this poor child!

You are already doing that, you inform the mysterious voice. And this child’s name is Dave.

He looked around eight years old, yet he stood with the manner of someone who has matured far past their physical age. For an eight year old, he was quite small, practically almost bare bones! Not to mention the nicks on his arms and legs.. this child, you decided, had been through quite a lot. More so than any of the other children who had fallen down. Most of the previous children had been selectively mute, and you’d expected him to follow the pattern - but it was obvious he was able to hold his own in a conversation. What was different about him was that his expression was very hard to read, as if he was hiding things. Even in his sleep, he kept that stoic face on behind those.. what were they called again? Ah, yes, sunglasses. They were going to get in the way of his rest soon, so you took the sunglasses carefully off his face and stashed them in your inventory. 

The path from the ruins wasn’t much different, and you walked along it as you had always done, along with the many children before him. You would let him explore after you had baked him a pie and tucked him into bed, to get the rest he deserved. You tucked a strand of almost white blond hair out of his face. He reminded you of the patience child, who was sweet and kind but always had a weapon on them for fear of attack. On further notice, he also had a sheathed weapon - a kind of sword, tucked into a belt specially made for it. 

As you approached your house, ready to make the kind of pie you always did, you stopped to think about something. What if you did something different? It _had_ been a while since you’d made apple pie. You decided on that instead, then walked into your house and turned to the right hallway, then into the room reserved for the children who fall down. You pulled back the covers, set Dave down, then tucked him in and left the sunglasses on the nearby table.

You were about to start baking when a knock sounded from the basement. You’d almost forgotten that you had a meeting with your friend! You rushed downstairs and to the door leading out of the ruins, a bit breathless.

“knock knock,” your friend started.

“Who is there?”

“the cow says.”

“The cow says who?”

“i thought the cow said moo?” he finished, and you burst into laughter. He chuckled on the other side as well, but his laughter was almost melancholy.

“What is the matter, my friend?” you asked, concerned. He’d been less chatty the last few days.

“i dunno if you’d listen,” he responded.

“Of course I would listen! You are my friend, after all!”

He mumbled something you couldn’t hear, then sighed. “is there a human in the ruins?”

“Why, yes, there is,” you replied, confused. “What of it?”

“brown hair, tan skin, mute, constant neutral face, no name?” he asked.

You shook your head before realizing he couldn’t see that. “No.”

He didn’t reply for a few moments. “...nevermind then. forghedaboudit.”

“Sans, are you alright? You seem off today.”

“i’m just fine, tori. nothin’ you need to worry about, trust me.”

“Then, may I ask a favor of you?”

“shoot.”

“When the human, Dave is his name, passes this door, will you protect him? He.. is troubled, Sans. He is only an eight year old child and..” your voice hitches. “..well, I will let you see for yourself.”

“of course, tori,” he reassures you. “i’ll keep an _eyesocket_ out for ‘im.”

He seems back to his regular joking mood, and you talk for a while before you decide to head back upstairs to make that apple pie.

==> Dave: Actually go to sleep

Yeah, you weren’t actually asleep when Toriel carried you over to the house. You were still a bit wary, but.. all she did was tuck you into bed and go downstairs to answer the door. You smile, then close your eyes for the last time today. Everything will be alright, you tell yourself.

You actually believe that for once.

==> Sans: Contemplate existence.

_you sure you wanna be me, kid? oh, you just wanna skip through the human’s sleep. meh, alright._

Long after Tori leaves, you’re still stuck there, thinking about things. The kid, the regular kid, is gone, and in place is an even smaller kid named ‘Dave’ of all things. He was able to hold a conversation with the weed, too. Probably not _intelligent_ conversation, but still. 

You wonder who this kid actually is. What their SOUL type is, yadda yadda yadda, all that stuff. What LV he has, his weapon, his appearance… you _guess_ you could ask the weed, but you’d rather not talk to him. You could also teleport into the Ruins. You haven’t actually _been_ there in a few resets, but you still know the general layout of the place.. you also don’t want to seem like a creep, either, so that’s out of the question. Things are fucked up if this kid can’t RESET, but they’re also less fucked up at the same time. Frisk RESET willy nilly, constantly, but maybe this kid has enough sense to not ruin the timelines like Frisk did.

You can only HOPE.

_HP: 2/2_

==> Dave: Explore the Ruins!

No. You just woke up. No.

Speaking of waking up, you yawn. You can immediately tell you’ve been sleeping for a few hours, and that it’s the next day. The smell of something that just finished baking not too long ago is what really wakes you up, though. Your stomach grumbles, and you realize you’re really hungry, so you shove the blankets off, jump out of bed, and walk out of the room (kind of quickly) into what looks like the dining room. Toriel is sitting at the table already, a plate with a slice of pie in front of her and in front of another chair. “Come sit, my child,” she beckoned, patting the empty seat next to her. You obliged. 

“What flavor is it?” you asked.

“Apple,” she answered, and your eyes lit up. “I normally do butterscotch cinnamon, but I decided on something different this time.” She smiled softly and you grinned back at her before digging in. It was a great pie, homely and made with love, unlike everything your.. well, you don’t remember who, but that’s besides the point. It tasted great, and you enjoyed every bit of it. When you finished, you kind of regretted eating it so quickly, but oh well. 

“That was delicious!” you complimented, and she lit up.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it, my child,” she said, but her voice was still a bit sad. You then remembered you left your sunglasses in the room, and you panicked internally.

“What’s wrong?” you asked her, trying to hide the panic.

“You just.. remind me of my first child, is all.” She sighed nostalgically. “You have the same eyes as them.” You blinked in surprise. So, she didn’t think you were weird or anything?

“You don’t think it’s creepy..?” you ventured, and she shook her head, hard.

“No, no, not at all!” she assured you. “I care for all my children equally, no matter how they look. But, there is another thing..” she sighed. “All children leave here eventually, whether of their own accord or because they need to get back ‘home’. I am worried about you for that, Dave. The world outside the Ruins is not as safe as it is here, and even though I have gotten a promise from a friend, I still worry. You are much younger than all the other children.. yet Asgore will still..” she choked a bit. 

“I’ll be fine, Mom,” you say, without thinking. “I can protect myself.”

“Yet still, I worry. Please, be careful, when you do leave. At least promise me that.”

“...I promise,” you say. You will leave, eventually - you have friends to go back to, even if you can’t remember them, and you get the feeling that they really miss you, even now. And yet, you can’t leave Toriel - no, she’s become more than that - you can’t leave Mom here all on her own, not now. She needs comfort, and dang it if you’re not going to give her comfort.

You stay in the Ruins for a few more days, hanging out with Mom. She gives you a phone before you leave (to stay in contact), and when you finally do decide to leave, she gives you a big hug that you cry into. She promises to answer the phone, though, and to keep the door open for you if you ever need it, so you won’t be gone forever. With renewed DETERMINATION, you walk through the door leading out of the Ruins, and toward a new section of the Underground. You’re ready for what comes next.. whatever it is that does.


	2. OST 017: Snowy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of Snowdin Town! Also, some of the italics didn't work. Oops.

==> Sans: Troll the human.

_hey now, of course i’m gonna do that! i stay on script for a reason, bucko._

You hide in the heavily wooded forest. It’s been a while since you last talked to Tori, and you’re worried that the new kid (Dave, you remind yourself) might have killed her. It seems you’re right on time for once, though, because a few minutes later, the door creaks open. Out steps a young kid with a sweater. The sweater is dark red with a bright red gear on the front (the same color as his eyes, you note), and yet he shivers as soon as he exits the Ruins, clearly freezing. Tori’s prepared him for the weather clothes-wise, but you don’t think he handles cold very well. He takes a few tentative steps out, marveling at the snow around him. If you didn’t know better, you’d assume he’d never seen snow before. 

He walks at a steady pace, ignoring the branch and jumping over it. You contemplate breaking it like normal, but he’s much younger than Frisk (he doesn’t even look eight, but he’s probably just small - you can relate to that), so he might not take to it well. When he reaches the gate, he pokes it, curious. _Time for pranking, _you think to yourself, grinning as you strap a whoopee cushion to your hand.__

__You walk on the path behind him, slowly, and he freezes. Once you almost reach him, you begin to talk. “Human.”_ _

__== > Dave: Freak out?_ _

__“Don’t you know how to meet a new pal?” the voice acts. He’s behind you._ _

__“Turn around and shake my hand,” he says, and you feel the urge to run away, but something in your head tells you, _He won’t hurt you. Just shake his hand._ So you do, and something unexpected happens._ _

__The sound of a fart echoes through the forest._ _

__You look down at the hand you’re holding. Gee, you thought you were skinny - this dude is literally bare bones! You risk a glance up, and come face to face with a grinning, albeit cartoonish, skull._ _

__“heh, the whoopie cushion in the hand trick. it’s _always_ funny,” he quips._ _

__“Wow,” you say, because you have really nothing else to say. And you thought a talking flower was weird._ _

__“my name’s sans. sans the skeleton,” he introduces himself._ _

__“Dave. Dave Strider,” you say in response. “Also, Sans? Like the font?”_ _

__“gotta problem with that, kid?”_ _

__“Nah, not really.”_ _

__“anyway, you’re a human, right?” he asks, and you deadpan. He takes that as a yes. “that’s hilarious. i’m actually supposed to be on the watch for humans, but, y’know, i don’t really care about capturing anybody.” He shrugs, and you facepalm. You can already tell he’s super lazy. “my brother, on the other hand..” That makes you freeze a little bit. You remember something._ _

__Your brother. Bro, more specifically. He’s the one who gave you the Kamina sunglasses, and you remember why you never called him Dad, even if he is technically your dad. He never treated you like a son. Mom, Toriel Mom, treated you like she actually cared about you. She wanted you to stay, wanted to protect you. She never forced you to fight, to earn your food, to earn anything - she just cared._ _

__“..hey, hey kid, are you okay? you spaced out for a bit,” Sans’s voice cut in, interrupting what you were thinking about. His skeletal hand waved in front of your face._ _

__“Huh? Oh, sorry,” you say, shaking your head quickly. “I was just remembering something.”_ _

__== > Sans: Worry._ _

__This kid has something wrong with him. You can feel it already, by the way he seemed to stare out into space when you mentioned your brother. You could see the trauma in his eyes. “well, okay..” you respond. “back to my brother. he’s kind of a human-hunting fanatic, but he’s not dangerous, even if he tries to be. he’s actually up ahead,” you say, and he fidgets a bit. “go ahead, just hide behind the lamp. he won’t notice ya.”_ _

__“Well, okay..” he says reluctantly, and does just that. You walk on ahead, and as usual, your brother comes out. The dialogue is a bit different, this time, but you’re not surprised - this timeline is a bit weird, after all._ _

__“SANS! THERE YOU ARE!”_ _

__“what’s up, bro?”_ _

__“I NEED YOUR HELP WITH A PUZZLE,” he admits. “I’VE BEEN TRYING TO GET IT SET UP, BUT IT’S TOO COMPLICATED!”_ _

__“aw, c’mon, paps,” you fake groan. “i’ve already worked myself _down to the bone._ ” You wink at the lamp, and you can hear a muffled groan from Dave._ _

__“SANS! THAT WAS TERRIBLE!” Papyrus stomps on the ground. “BESIDES, WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES BY! I HAVE TO CATCH THEM - FOR UNDYNE!”_ _

__“you will, bro, i’m certain of it. you could even say...” You pause for effect, but not too long, or Papyrus might get a word in. “i can feel it in my _bones_?”_ _

__“That was terrible!” Dave says, probably without thinking._ _

__“THANK YOU, MR. LAMP! I CERTAINLY AGREE WITH YOU!” It’s a good thing Papyrus is naive, sometimes. “BECAUSE I CAN’T HANDLE ANY MORE OF YOUR DARNED PUNS,” he glared at you, “I WILL BE GOING NOW! MAYBE YOU’LL FINALLY PUT A LITTLE MORE.. _BACKBONE_ INTO YOUR WORK!” He laughed, then walked away confidently._ _

__“alright, you can come out now.” Dave breathed a big sigh of relief, then practically fell over._ _

__“Dear God, I almost blew my cover,” he said, shamefully? You laughed._ _

__“nah, don’t worry about it. even if you did, i’m sure paps would’ve just been really friendly. like i said, he’s not intimidating, even if he tries to be,” you shrugged._ _

__“My point still stands, though, Sans the Skeleton. Your puns are terrible,” he huffed._ _

__“aw, c’mon, they’re real _rib_ -ticklers!”_ _

__“I’m going.” Dave turned on his heel and walked away._ _

__“actually, can i ask a favor real quick? my bro’s been a little down in the dumps lately, and seeing you might just make his day. maybe you could just, y’know, show yourself to him next time?”_ _

__“It was your idea for me to hide behind the lamp.”_ _

__“my point still stands, davy jones.” He rolled his eyes at the nickname._ _

__“Fine, sure.”_ _

__“thanks a ton. i’ll be up ahead,” you said, grinning, then walked towards the Ruins door. You couldn’t see his face, but you could at least imagine it. You chuckled to yourself. This kid wasn’t so bad, actually, you decided. Before you actually teleported away, though, you teleported up into a tree above him to CHECK his stats._ _

__You nearly fell off of the tree._ _

__This kid.. his LV was impossibly high. Despite that, he had no EXP, and pretty low HP. 34/34._ _

__You couldn’t help but frown at that. What had this kid been through? Why was his LV so high and his HP so low? And more importantly, did that have something to do with his brother? That might have explained the spacing out, actually. But.._ _

__What had his brother done to him that could’ve pushed this kid so hard?_ _

__== > Dave: Explore_ _

__You trodded through the snow, shivering every step you took along the way, because you weren’t used to the cold - at all - and this was what your friends (not that you remember their names) cheered about during Christmas? You hated it. Then again, you hated the cold, so what was new about that?_ _

__The next area had a path careening off to the side of the normal path. Out of curiosity, you walked up there instead. There was a river, but it was obviously going to be freezing, so you didn’t touch it. Instead, you stared at your reflection in the calm waters. Red eyes stared back at you, confident and determined. Suddenly, your phone rang, and you jumped, scrambling to get it out of your pocket and answer whoever was calling._ _

__“Hello..?” you asked._ _

__You were hoping it was Toriel, but it was a voice you didn’t recognize. “Hello! Could I speak to Dream?”_ _

__“Who? I’ve never heard of a Dream ‘round these parts, but then again, I _am_ new,” you joked._ _

__“Wait, is this the wrong number?”_ _

__“‘Fraid so, buddy.”_ _

__“Oops! Sorry about that!” They seemed extremely apologetic, if not very nice, and a little bit hyper.._ _

__“Nah, it’s fine. Who are ya anyway?” At this point you were just making small talk, but it was whatever. Might as well get to know another member of the Underground._ _

__“You can call me Blue, everyone does! Mwehehe!” Oh my god his laugh was adorable._ _

__“The name’s Dave. Mind if I save your number so you can call me back? I’m currently tryin’ ta get back to a skeleton that I know,” you explained._ _

__“Oh, of course! Sorry for taking up your time, Dave! Say, though, call me back if you need help. I could tell Ink and Dream to go to you if you really need it, okay?” You could almost hear the cheerful grin in his voice. “I do need to know something, though, if you don’t mind asking.”_ _

__“Sure, go ahead,” you said._ _

__“What are the skeleton brothers like? Um, both of them.”_ _

__This caught you off guard a little bit, but it didn’t take you long to answer. “Well, there’s Sans, who’s short, lazy, and a terrible pun-making machine, and Papyrus, tall, energetic, and wearing a red scarf. They both seem alright, I guess.”_ _

__“Oh, okay! Ack, I gotta go now!” he exclaimed, fumbling to turn off his phone from the other end. “Ink, no! Don’t drink the paint thinner!” was all you heard, and then the call ended with a click. You couldn’t help but snicker at the scenario that was apparently happening on Blue’s end. Unfortunately, there was nothing else to do in this area but stare at the water, so you put your phone back in your sylladex (it ended up in slot 0) and trudged back to the path you were on before, this time going the way you hadn’t originally. On the side of the path was a box, and a sign. You attempted to read the sign, but it was in a language you didn’t recognize - what a shame. You were about to turn away when a voice came out of nowhere, narrating what probably was written on the sign._ _

__“ _This is a box. You can put an item inside or take an item out. The same box will appear later, so don’t worry about coming back. Sincerely, a box lover._ ”_ _

__You whipped your head around to look for the origin of the voice, and came face-to-face with a ghost floating in the air. They had caramel-brown hair, super rosy cheeks (like hot dang are they from a cartoon or something), a yellow and green striped sweater, and red eyes, just as bright as your own. Their mouth curled up into a little grin as they saw you staring at them. “ _Oh, so you_ can _see me. Well, this is interesting._ ”_ _

__== > Chara: Introduce yourself._ _

__And it was interesting, or at least you thought so. You weren’t absolutely sure he could see you, because his SOUL wasn’t exactly Determination - it had the right color and the right intensity, but it was also a different type of SOUL you’d never seen before. You took in the surprise in his eyes as you floated there in the air, sputtering before he could speak. “Who- what- who _are_ you?” he asked, and you grinned a bit wider._ _

__“ _You can call me Chara,_ ” you said, bowing in the air. “ _I’m here to help you through the Underground._ ”_ _

__Once he got over his surprise, he scoffed. “You’re doing a great job of that. I can get through here on my own, thank you,” he said, turning away and walking over to the next encounter with Papyrus. You smiled again, fading from sight. You were attached to him like you usually were to Frisk, so you were mainly just going to watch him traverse through the Underground and laugh at the mistakes he made. This was gonna be fun._ _

__== > Papyrus: The human arrives!_ _

___NYEH? YOU ACTUALLY WANT TO BE ME? WOWIE, WHAT AN HONOR!_ _ _

__“SO, AS I WAS SAYING ABOUT UNDYNE…” you continued, talking to your brother, though he didn’t seem to even be paying attention, the lazybones! Suddenly, however, a crunch in the snow alerted you to turn to where something was standing. You turned to Sans, then back to the something, then back to Sans. “(SANS, OH MY GOD!)” you whispered to him, back turned against the something that looked like a human. “(IS… IS THAT A HUMAN?!)”_ _

__Sans pointed to the thing you were looking at. “(uh, actually, i think that’s a rock.)” Your shoulders drooped._ _

__“(OH.)”_ _

__He pointed to something else. “(hey, what’s that in front of the rock?)”_ _

__“(OH MY GOD!!)” you whisper-yelled. “(IS _THAT_ A HUMAN? HE LOOKS… SMALL,)” you noted, because he did. Very small, compared to what you knew about humans._ _

__“(yes.)”_ _

__“OH MY GOD!!!” You jumped in place, excited. “SANS!! I FINALLY DID IT!! UNDYNE WILL... I’M GONNA... I’LL BE SO… POPULAR, POPULAR, POPULAR!!” This was the best day of your life! All the training you’d done for the Royal Guard was gonna pay off! You then realized how silly you looked, and how the human was kind of snickering, and gathered yourself, pointing at the human in a way you thought was menacing. “AHEM. HUMAN! YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU! I WILL THEN CAPTURE YOU, YOU WILL BE SENT TO THE CAPITAL, AND THEN…!” you paused, trying to remember. “I’M NOT EXACTLY SURE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.” You shook your head. “IN ANY CASE! CONTINUE ONLY IF YOU DARE! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!!” You walked away confidently, vaguely hearing your brother in the distance._ _

__“well, that went well.”_ _

___‘IT CERTAINLY DID, SANS, IT CERTAINLY DID!’_ you thought to yourself, when you thought you heard him say a pun. You groaned inwardly, but shook it off and continued your way onwards to craft more puzzles! This could only go fantastically!_ _


	3. OST ???: Gaster's Theme

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get to see some of Johnny boi! Also a certain goopster..

==> John: Attempt to message TG.

This could only go horribly.

Dave hasn’t been responding for ages, so why would he respond now? You decide it’s at least worth another try.

\--ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG]--  
EB: hey, dave. i know you haven’t been responding to my previous messages, but i figured i might message you again anyway.  
EB: where are you? did i say something to make you mad? if i did, i’m sorry.  
EB: ...no response?  
EB: yeah, i figured.  
EB: call me and the others when you get back, okay?  
\--ectoBiologist [EB] ceased pestering turntechGodhead [TG]--

You sigh and log out of Pesterchum, deactivating the computer function of your glasses. Looking around, you could see the effect of Dave’s disappearance on everyone else - Karkat looked almost like a hollow shell, leaning against a somber (for once) Terezi for a small bit of comfort. Rose was looking like she usually did nowadays, with a perpetual face of slight worry and trying to hold on to the hope that her brother would come back. She was talking with Dirk, who, compared to his normal facial expression, looked as worried as the rest of us were. Jake and Vriska (oddly enough) were trying to keep everyone’s hopes up in an alliance that would never had been made otherwise. Jane was probably off stress baking along with Jade, Kanaya and Roxy, while Eridan talked to Sollux about something to keep their minds off of what was happening. Aradia, Tavros, Nepeta, and Feferi did the same - Equius watched from a little ways off, probably just keeping an eye on his moirail. Gamzee was off somewhere, though you didn’t actually know where - maybe that was for the best, though.

You, however, were just sitting there - you hadn’t exactly tried to use your retcon powers yet, but you were still getting the hang of them - even if you did use them to change the timeline, more than once. At least something good came out of your adventures with Vriska. Still, nobody knows how Dave disappeared, and neither Terezi nor Rose can See where he is, so you have doubts that he’ll even come back, really. It’s good that Aradia is alive now, though, because without a Time player - well, you don’t want to think about what would happen. 

You thought about the possibilities of where Dave could be. Traveled back in time, maybe? No, he’d have come back if that were true. In another universe? Well, that was possible, but also really _really_ unlikely and you didn’t want it to be true. Off fixing a doomed timeline? That sounded like something Dave would do, and also the most likely option, but he also would’ve come back by now if that’s what he was doing. Doing a random quest? Again, sounds like Dave, and yet he would’ve come back... You could go check by using your retcon powers, but you didn’t want to leave without telling _someone,_ so..

==> John: Talk to Rose

Yeah. You were gonna at least tell Rose before you freaked everybody out.

You walked over to where Rose and Dirk were (you weren’t in the mood to fly). Rose noticed you almost immediately, pausing what she was doing with Dirk to answer you. “What do you need, John?”

“Um.. well, I was thinking about going after Dave,” you said, rocking back and forth on your feet as a bit of a nervous habit. 

“No.” Dirk said, before Rose could even answer. “We can’t lose two people necessary to the team.”

“However..” Rose countered, looking straight at Dirk and then at you, “it does make the most sense. John’s ‘retcon’ powers are a type of teleportation that can alter canon, something even Jade cannot do, and if Dave is anywhere, John could follow.”

“He’s the _leader_ , Rose. We can’t lose our leader,” he shot back. 

“Well, if it makes you feel better, I could always come back,” you said, trying to avoid conflict. “Wherever he is, it’s got some sort of canon, right?”

“Correct,” Rose said, with a small grin for the first time in weeks. “I can’t believe it took us this long to come up with a plan, though.” Her smile dimmed. “It should’ve been so easy to See.. but neither of us can See anything related to Dave,” she said, gesturing to Terezi. “Very unfortunate, and also highly irregular.”

“I wonder what’s preventing that,” Dirk wondered out loud, voicing the question you had as well. 

“I’m curious to know as well,” Rose said, turning back to Dirk to chat about whatever they were already talking about. That was the go for you, allowing you to reach into yourself and find the will to access the timeline of canon. This time, you didn’t focus on the past or the future - you focused on the present, wherever Dave was. You felt yourself slipping away, fading in and out of canon as you closed your eyes, transporting out of the universe you were currently in. 

When you opened your eyes, you saw… nothing.

What?

No, there was literally nothing here. As far as you could see, nothing other than yourself was there. The overwhelming absence of any color and object weighed down on you as you tried to calm your nerves. This wasn’t where Dave was, right? There was no way he could accidentally get stuck in this absolute void of nothingness. 

Either way, you just weren’t comfortable here. To be honest, you thought to yourself, only Roxy would. It was her element, after all. You tried to turn yourself into wind to move around in this strange place, this bleak state of in-between, and thankfully it worked, but there was nowhere to go. Everything was nowhere and nothing was everywhere, so you simply went fast in no direction at all, other than.. down. Something was pulling you down. You ceased being wind, since that wasn’t helping (at all) and just let the something, a little akin to gravity, carry you downwards. You couldn’t float, really, since there wasn’t an ‘up’. No left, right, or center, just down. It brought you down at an almost leisurely pace, almost like a feather falling in air, until you were face-to-maybe-a-face with a skull. Not any skull you’d seen before, what with Dave and Aradia’s obsession with collecting dead shit, but rather a human skull, twisted and contorted until it looked like a cartoon mask with a back. The eyes both had lines coming from them - the open eye had a line connecting it to the supposed mouth, and the half-closed one was connected to the top of the ‘skull’. The body, even though it was impossible, was a darker black than the nothing around it, and looked basically like Oobleck - melting and liquid and solid all at once. The only semi normal things about whatever/whoever this was were the hands, which looked like a normal skeleton’s, but with gigantic holes in the palms. 

“☟☜☹☹⚐📪 👍☟✋☹👎📪” the thing said, startling you a bit. “👍✌☠ ✡⚐🕆 🕆☠👎☜☼💧❄✌☠👎 💣☜✍”

“Um…” was the first thing out of your mouth. Great first impression, John, you scolded yourself.

“☟💣📬 🕆☠☞⚐☼❄🕆☠✌❄☜📬” It began to turn away. “🏱☜☼☟✌🏱💧 ✋ 💧☟⚐🕆☹👎 ☺🕆💧❄ 💧☜☠👎 ✡⚐🕆 👌✌👍😐✍”

“I’m really sorry, but I can’t understand a word you’re saying,” you said sheepishly. “It’s like you’re an unprototyped kernelsprite, spouting nonsense.” You laughed a bit at your own joke, still awkward.

“✋ ✌💣 ☠⚐❄ 💧⚐💣☜ 💧✋💣🏱☹☜ 😐☜☼nel💧🏱rite,” it said, seemingly offended. “☟⚐w ☼🕆de.”

“Sorry,” you said. “Just trying to lighten the mood.”

“☹✋g☟t. 💧⚐meth✋ng ❄☟is 🏱lac☜ 👎esper✌tel✡ nee👎s,” it said sadly. You were beginning to understand what it said.

“What is this place, anyway?” you asked, gesturing to the nothing.

“Thi💧 is t☟e Vo✋d.” It looked solemn.

“Roxy’d fit in here,” you said, mostly to yourself. “She’d be right in her element.”

“Is tha❄ so?”

“Yep! She’s a Rouge of Void,” you informed it cheerfully.

“I ca☠ see you are beginning to 🕆nderstand me,” it said. “How is that?”

“God Tier badges. Pretty useful if I do say so myself.”

“Very. I wish more than ju💧t you and my sons could understand,” it sighed.

“Now that I can understand you..” you started. “Can I get your name?”

“W.D. Gaster,” it - no, he - said, bowing the best it could. “Previous Royal Scientist. And you are?”

“John Egbert, Heir of Breath!” you said cheerfully, then remembered why you were here. “Say, you don’t happen to know a Dave, do you?”

“I do, actually. He is in an anomaly timeline right now, where he is replacing the Fallen Human,” he said. “Normally, I’d delete said anomaly timeline, but he is far too powerful for me to do so. He has complete control of the timeline, despite just being eight human years,” he explained, and you raised an eyebrow. 

“Eight? Dave’s sixteen.”

“Not in the anomaly timeline.” Gaster shook his head. “Most anomalies that fall down are reduced to ten or eleven years old - four point six to five sweeps if they are a troll, which has happened before - but your friend is an anomaly among anomalies. The black goat in a herd of black sheep, if you will. Nobody, not even Ink, can do anything about him being there.”

“So.. is that why I appeared here instead of wherever Dave is?” you asked, things starting to make a little sense now.

“Precisely.” He smiled, which kind of looked creepy, but you got what he meant. 

“Is there anyone else here?” You decided to ask, changing the subject.

“Yes, other versions of myself, mostly. Not all of them kind,” he said sadly. “I call those who got here from harming others ‘badsters’. A bit of a silly name, but my son would have loved it.”

“He likes silly jokes?” you ventured, and he nodded. 

“Puns, mostly. I remember he got a kick out of reading Harry Potter.”

“Ah yes, the world of Harry Potter is filled to the brim with puns,” you said, reminiscing. He snorted. It seemed like every moment you spent with Gaster was healing him from that state of meltingness, as he looked a little more like a real skeleton now - still with that cartoony skull (you suspected that it was always that way), but the goop had formed itself into a skeletal body with a black lab coat. You had no idea what was causing this, though - maybe it was the feeling of not being alone anymore, maybe it was that you were god tier, or most likely, it was your retcon powers doing something. This was obviously outside canon, but because you were part of some sort of canon, you were reverting him back to his canon state. Less mystery goop man and more scientist skeleton. A question popped in your head as you thought that, though. 

“Hey,” you started, getting his attention, “what does W.D. stand for?”

“Wingdings,” he said proudly.

This confused you. “The.. the font?”

He nodded. “The unreadable symbols font. Obviously, you’re translating what I’m saying at the moment, because I speak in said font.”

“Huh.” That was.. actually kind of cool. “So, do your sons speak in fonts too?”

“Yes, Comic Sans MS and Papyrus.” You snickered at that.

“The three most ‘hated’ fonts in a family, huh? Dave would love the pure irony of that.” It was true. Dave did pretty much everything for ironic purposes, but that was just the half irony kind. This was true irony, the kind that he couldn’t replicate.

“Is that so?” Gaster asked, smirking. “I didn’t know the fonts we spoke in were disliked.”

“Comic Sans was used way too much for serious stuff, and so was Papyrus. They’re the bane of any writer’s font stash because they’re so overused. Wingdings is there because it’s completely unreadable,” you explained.

Gaster sighed. “I’m not surprised. People can be dumb sometimes.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” you agreed. “Also, if I’m allowed to ask, what year is it?”

“In the two thousand tens, why?” He tilted his head slightly.

“So.. the Earth wasn’t destroyed?” Your hope soared.

“No? Why would it be?”

“So SBURB doesn’t exist then?” you asked, excited.

“As far as I am aware, no. Why do you ask?”

You were kind of vibrating a little. You got hyper sometimes. “I can’t believe I’ve finally found a universe where the game doesn’t exist!” you whisper-exclaimed. 

“I’m sorry but what game?” He seemed really confused, so you gave him a small run-down of your life since 2009. Mostly the fact that the world was destroyed and life was ruined because of a game, and you were looking for a universe where the game didn’t exist. The game was also the reason you were able to get here (and turn to wind) and the reason for your clothing, which he seemed intrigued about. You didn’t spend super long talking about it though, because you didn’t want to overwhelm him or anything.

“Rose is gonna be so happy! We could all move to the universe Dave’s in!” You did a little victory jump mid-nothingness. Gaster laughed, not unkindly, at what you were doing.

“You remind me of Papyrus when you do that,” he said. 

“There’s still hope left for our session!” 

“Maybe there is hope left for us all, my friend.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okayyy, y'all are probably confused at the timeline. No this isn't Dave from the past, it's Dave from the end of the original Homestuck except shrunk down to a chaild. More reasoning behind his LV and EXP is that he's never really permanently killed anyone, but he's gained LV (the capacity to hurt) by climbing the echeladder. Does that make sense? Maybe not.


	4. OST 016: Nyeh Heh Heh!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave works his way through more of Snowdin, solves a puzzle, and Sans decides he needs to have a chat with an old friend.

==> Dave: Continue

Brr. It’s still freezing. You’re really glad you grabbed that sweater from Mom, now. You already kind of miss her, actually, but you know you can call her back, so you’re not worried. Speaking of which, you probably should check in on her, you decide, so while you walk along the frozen path, you dial Toriel’s number, and wait for her to answer. It doesn’t take long.

“Hello, this is Toriel,” she says, and a smile comes to your lips.

“Hey Mom!” you say, and you can immediately tell she brightens.

“Dave! I was wondering when you would call,” she teased. “It’s not nice to keep a lady waiting, you know.”

“Mo-om,” you fake groan, and she laughs.

“I am only teasing, my child. How are you?”

“Pretty good, actually. I met a couple skele-bros not too long ago,” you recall, then wince at the pun. “Ugh, one of them tells too many puns and it’s bleeding into how I talk. Not cool.”

Toriel laughed again. “So you’re not getting bonely or anything?”

“Mom!” This time it really is a complaint. “I’ve got enough puns already, especially with Sans and John!”

“Who?” You can tell she raises an eyebrow.

“Sans is the shorter skeleton bro, he tells way too many puns.” You roll your eyes.

“No, my child, I know who Sans is,” she says. “Who is John?”

“I-” You stop to think about it. “I dunno. Guess it just slipped out or something.”

“Perhaps he was one of your friends?” she offers. “You did come down with barely any memory of yourself, after all.”

“Yeah, I guess,” you say unconvincingly. 

She gives a small hum. “Why don’t you try and tell me more about him?”

You roll your eyes. “Yeah, sure, the pun master John. That’s all we know about him, and wow that’s a lot of information. I dunno, try having amnesia yourself? Come on, can’t be that hard to remember, right? Bullcrap. My mind’s as blank as his selection of good movies, I mean, Con Air? What kinda person likes a movie so full of cliches? Nobody other than the Egderp himself, and maybe English, but they’re related so that doesn’t count because Jake got his bullshit taste in movies from Egbert. Maybe if I could get out of this, I dunno, hole in the ground, I could go slap some movie sense into him for the good of what’s left of humanity, and by that I mean our friend group, who doesn’t need to deal with any more of his goddamn pranks, they have enough to deal with without a bucket falling on somebody’s fucking head every other hour!” you rant, not necessarily paying attention to what you’re saying. From the way you spout off, this happened often before you even fell down. You were going to rant some more, but Mom cut you off.

“My child, aren’t you too young to cuss like that?” she asks sternly.

You blink. “Was I cussing a lot? Wasn’t paying attention to what I said, really,” you say in an apologetic tone as you pass by a cardboard sentry station. Chara reads the text for you in an imitation of Papyrus’s voice.

“ _YOU OBSERVE THE WELL-CRAFTED SENTRY STATION. WHO COULD HAVE BUILT THIS, YOU PONDER… I BET IT WAS THAT VERY FAMOUS ROYAL GUARDSMAN! (NOTE: NOT YET A VERY FAMOUS ROYAL GUARDSMAN.)_ ” You snort at the irony of that. “ _Also, the text is written in the Papyrus font,_ ” they inform you, and you can’t help but laugh.

“What are you laughing at, my child?” Mom asks.

“A note that Papyrus wrote on a sentry station,” you inform her. “He wrote it in his own font.”

She laughs a little too. “That is a little funny,” she agrees. “Well, I will be off now. I have things to do, after all. It was nice to hear about John, he seems like an interesting person,” she says kindly. 

“I still have no idea what I said about him,” you say confidently, and she giggles. 

“I heard he has bad taste in pranks and movies,” she informs you. “I wish you the best of luck on your journey, my child. Goodbye!”

“Bye, Mom!” you say before she hangs up. You put the phone back in your Sylladex again, then continue on, stopping by a sign, which Chara reads for you.

“ _Absolutely NO MOVING!!!_ ” they say seriously, with emphasis on the last two words. 

“Too bad, I gotta move to continue,” you say in response to the sign’s message, blatantly ignoring it and moving in front of the next sentry station. As soon as you did so, a human-like dog rose out of the inside, leaning on the counter and looking around suspiciously, causing you to freeze. It sniffed in your direction.

“Did something move? Was it my imagination?” it- he asked, in a gruff voice not unlike Batman’s, albeit a little more doglike. “I can only see moving things..” he muttered, continuing to sniff towards you. “If something was moving, for example, a human… I’ll make sure it never moves again!”

The world in front of you flashed from colored to black and white, the heart you had seen with that flowery asshole coming out of your chest again and enclosing itself in a white-lined box. The dog that was leaning out of the sentry station jumped out, two daggers in hand, and four orange buttons hovered in front of you. The leftmost had a dagger and was labeled ‘FIGHT’, middle left had sound waves and was called ‘ACT’, the next with a bag and the title ‘ITEM’, and finally the right had an X and was shown as ‘MERCY’. You went back to what Mom had said in the few days you had stayed with her, and also the advice of a couple Froggits. Mom had encouraged you to show mercy instead of fighting, unless it was absolutely necessary (and you agreed), while a Froggit had told you you couldn’t spare until the name was yellow, and if it wasn’t, you’d need to act. Item was basically your inventory (aka your Sylladex, you couldn’t access the ‘inventory’ like everyone else), but using an item took a turn, which you thought was a little annoying but went with it anyway. You held your hand over MERCY, which glowed yellow, and when you touched it, a menu appeared above it. Doggo (the name made you snort) was not ready to be spared yet, apparently, so you moved instead to ACT, which had two options: check and pet. You started with check, since that seemed like the most logical thing to do.

“ _Doggo: six attack, one defense. Easily excited by movement. Hobbies include: squirrels,_ ” Chara informed you.

“Don’t move an inch,” he growled, the hitbox widening as it prepared for an attack. A cyan-colored sword slid in from the right, passing straight over your soul as it stayed still, causing you to shiver a little bit. It felt cold, like ice, but your health hadn’t gone down. If you were going to be honest, you’d just forgotten to move, really, though it was good to know that blue attacks couldn’t hurt if you didn’t move. None of the monsters near Mom’s home had any blue attacks, only some occasional green ones (Vegetoid, you remembered, but Mom also had green magic), which healed you, and felt like a sunny day. 

“ _Doggo can’t seem to find anything,_ ” your resident ghostly narrator told you, your hand pressing against ACT again and selecting the other option, pet, from the menu. Chara giggled.

“WHAT!!! I’VE BEEN PET!!!” the dog exclaimed excitedly, sounding just like a puppy. The previous attack repeated itself as it said a variety of words similar to ‘pet’ over and over again. See, this is why you liked dogs. After a small session of laughter from both you and Chara, you hovered your hand over the ACT button once more. This time, the name was yellow, so you moved to MERCY and selected spare, color flooding back into the space around you. The dog leaned against the back wall of the station, seemingly dazed from what had happened. “S-s-something pet me.. something that wasn’t m-m-moving…” he said breathlessly, sighing and putting his hand against his head and settling down. “I’m gonna need some dog treats for this.” You snorted and continued on the path, Sans being up ahead. 

“hey, here’s something important to remember,” he said as you passed. “my brother has a special attack colored blue, and when you see them-”

“Dude, I just passed a dog who used said blue attacks,” you deadpanned at him, turning around. 

“good, then i don’t need to tell you, do i?” he grinned, and you rolled your eyes.

“You are so lazy,” you said absentmindedly, turning back around to take a step forward and-

WHAM!

-you fall flat on your fact because there’s a thick layer of ice on the ground and _how did you not notice that before_.

Sans snickered, holding a hand up to his mouth (teeth? You still don’t know). “you okay there, kiddo? don’t wanna sl- _ice_ yourself up, you know.”

“I hate you,” you mumble, getting up and stepping (well, more like slipping) off the ice.

As you walk away in the direction you were originally going, you hear a faint chuckle and the clear sentence of “i hate me too, kid.” As you walk forward, though, you hear Papyrus, and… Sans? But wasn’t he just back there? You keep going to see a cleared-out square and the two skeletons talking. Doesn’t look like they’ve noticed you yet.

==> Papyrus: Scold your brother.

Sometimes you feel like you’re the only mature one around here. “YOU ARE SO LAZY, YOU WERE NAPPING ALL NIGHT!” you say, folding your arms. It was true, you saw your brother sleeping all through the night! He never did that, you never did that.. what were you supposed to expect?

“i think that’s called sleeping,” he said, avoiding your gaze and rubbing a hand against his neck vertebrae. You shook your head and sighed.

“EXCUSES, EXCUSES!” As much as he took care of you, your brother could be immature, sometimes the most immature person you knew.

You could hear the human.. er, Dave, snickering over something. what was so funny? ..OH WAIT DAVE WASN’T THERE BEFORE! You turned around to face him, grin returning. “OH-HO! WHY, HELLO THERE, DAVE! I ALMOST DIDN’T SEE YOU THERE,” you said, a bit sheepishly. “SORRY.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” he assured you. 

“WELL, IN THAT CASE,” you continued, brightening up, “IN ORDER TO STOP YOU… ME AND MY BROTHER HAVE CREATED SOME PUZZLES!”

“ _tibia_ honest, you might find this one pretty _shocking_ ,” your brother interrupted. Darn, that was going to be your line.. wait.

“OH MY GOD,” you groaned, putting your skull in a gloved hand.

“I don’t get it?” The human - _DAVE!_ \- Dave, looked confused. 

You gestured to the square of snow in front of you. “THIS,” you started, “IS THE INVISIBLE ELECTRICITY MAZE! IT TOOK A WHILE TO MAKE,” you said proudly, hands on hips. “WHEN YOU TOUCH THE WALLS OF THE MAZE, YOU WILL GET A SHOCK FROM THIS ORB! NOT ENOUGH TO HURT YOU, THOUGH - SANS HELPED ME WITH THAT.” 

“Ohh, I get it now.. ugh.” Dave facepalmed, wincing. “But um, how’s the orb going to shock me from way over there?” he pointed out.

“HMM, THAT’S A GOOD QUESTION,” you said in response. “ARE YOU ANY GOOD AT CATCH?”

He shrugged. “Pretty good, I guess. I’ve never really played catch. At least, not with a ball.”

“OKAY THEN, CATCH!” You tossed the ball over the maze, and Dave stepped back to let it fall in the snow, picking it up afterwards. “THAT WORKS TOO!”

He unsheathed a.. sword of some kind. Undyne would know what type, for sure, but that wasn’t your expertise. Moving forward, he used the sword as a sort of cane - testing the walls of the maze with it, and moving where there was no tension. Your eyes lit up - what a brilliant strategy! He must love puzzles as well! Eventually, he made it to the end of the maze, grinning at you and your brother with not only his mouth, but his eyes. He seemed proud of himself. “Ta-daa!”

“WOWIE,” you breathed. “THAT WAS INCREDIBLE!”

“Heh, um, thanks,” he said, almost sheepishly. Why would he be sheepish? He did an amazing job!

“HOWEVER, THE NEXT PUZZLE… WELL, I DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS, ACTUALLY,” you admitted. “IT WAS DESIGNED BY MY BROTHER, THOUGH, SO YOU WILL SURELY BE CONFOUNDED! NYEH HEH HEH!” At this, you walked away towards the next puzzle. 

==> Sans: Talk to Dave

Huh. You’d never seen a human solve the puzzle that way before. Anyway, as Dave went to go on, you pulled him aside. “hey, thanks,” you told him. “my brother seems like he’s having fun.”

“Yeah, I could tell,” he laughed a little. Since you’d first seen him, he was definitely a little loosened up - good, he deserved a break. 

“by the way, did you see the outfit he’s wearing?”

“Yeah, it seems pretty cool as far as I can tell,” he said.

“yeah, we made that for a costume party a while ago. he’s loved it since, even calls it his ‘battle body’. he’s pretty cool, huh?” 

“If you wore something like that every day, then how would you not be cool?” he retorted, and you laughed. 

“fair enough, kid. see ya later,” you waved as he left. You had a feeling you’d get along with this kid. For now, though.. it was time you spoke with someone. Pulling out your phone, you opened up an app that you hadn’t used in a while. 

\--comicsansMS [CM] began chattering with voidDoctor [VD]--  
CM: hey, G?  
CM: we need to talk.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, let's see what happens next-


End file.
